COMMUNITY GOVERNANCE

FOR DISASTER RECOVERY AND RESILIENCE:

FOUR CASE STUDIES IN THE PHILIPPINES1

EBINEZER R. FLORANO, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor
National College of Public Administration and Governance
University of the Philippines

Abstract

This research aims to investigate the role of communities in disaster recovery process and in
building resilience to answer the questions: “What is the role of community in the disaster
recovery process? What roles do various stakeholders play in community-led disaster recovery?
Is community-based disaster recovery affected by exposure to hazards and disasters, or by the
community’s level of socio-economic development?” To answers these questions, five
hypotheses were tested in the 12 barangays from Tacloban, Iligan, Dagupan, and Marikina
Cities. Their cases were investigated by reviewing their documents, interviewing city
government officials, and conducting focus group discussion involving barangay officials and
residents. These were all conducted with the use of unstructured questionnaires and checklists
for the Disaster-Resilient Community Index (DRCI), which was used to compute the level of
resilience of the barangays. The study found that community governance for disaster recovery
seems to be stuck in the pre-NDRRMC (National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management)
years because recovery planning is still passive and reactive. There is no early recovery
planning, and for the past years, the government had been relying on post-disaster needs
assessment every after disaster. Thus, among the four pillars of disaster risk reduction and
management (DRRM), disaster recovery seems to be the weakest link. Disaster recovery in the
barangays seems to be a function of the level of socio-economic development rather than the
knowledge on the exposure to hazards and disasters by barangays officials and residents. The
role of various stakeholders in disaster recovery is very important but without meaningful
participation from barangays, recovery moves at a snail pace. Lastly, the study found that
resiliency is built through time, but it may be delayed if important recovery sectors (e.g.,
housing and livelihood) are neglected that make people (especially the poor who are always the
hardest hit in dangerous areas) feel exposed and vulnerable to hazards and disasters. The
study recommends the enactment of laws on pre-disaster recovery planning, public service
continuity plans, and relocating people from disaster-prone communities to safer areas as cost-
efficient recovery policy, plans, and project. Among others, the further testing of the DRCI and
widening of the coverage of the study are suggested for further research.

Key words: community governance, disaster recovery, resilience, communities, barangays

1
This work was carried out with the aid of a grant from the Global Development Network/Japan International
Cooperative Agency (GDN/JICA) administered by the Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS) as East
Asian Development Network (EADN) Secretariat.